


Vacuoan Oasis

by Mindcrank



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 07:44:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11985348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mindcrank/pseuds/Mindcrank
Summary: May Zedong returned from The Siege of Vale two weeks ago and one of her friends notices she's been distant and takes her out on a hike to cheer her up.Not a self insert thing, Gaige isn't even my Character.





	Vacuoan Oasis

The sand and rocks of the Vacuo desert softly crunched beneath May’s sneakers as she fussed her right foot around within her shoe. An errant pebble had found its way inside. She managed to get it underneath the arc between her toes and the ball of her foot. It had been two weeks since the Siege of Vale, and only two days since her team had returned home from helping to secure the kingdom. “So Gaige,” May called out to Gaige who now a couple paces ahead, “It’s not that I don’t trust you but it’d be a little nice knowing why we’re hiking out a full five clicks.” She clicked her tongue .

Gaige stood at 6’4”, almost a foot taller than May even without her Lynx ears. She was wearing her usual outfit: An umber tank with a light brown explorer’s jacket over it, sleeves rolled up the elbows. Cargo shorts of the same color stopped just above her knees and she wore tan hiking boots leaving much of her long brown legs exposed. May would catch her eyes drifting there from time to time before correcting her vision back onto the desert.

She was also without her weapon, what amounted to a large slab of sharpened steel. Instead in it’s place she had large pack which held a couple bottles of water, lunch for the both of them and an assortment of snacks. “Well you’ve been quiet since you got back.” May humphed in amusement. “Okay, quieter.” Gaige clarified.

“I haven’t even been back a full week,” May lowered her beanie over her uncovered eye until it took up a bit of her field of vision.

“Come on May,” Gaige grunted slightly as she took a large step to bridge a gap between two boulders, “We’re friends. I know you.”

May felt a slight decline in her mood and sighed, “Well you know what happened in Vale. Wasn’t really what you’d call a fun time.” She jumped over the gap, “Don’t see how that’s relevant to our hike here.” May looked back at Shade, the school was barely visible in the distance.

Gaige’s ears flicked, “I kinda wanted to show you something, kinda wanted to chat.” She shrugged. “You’ve been gone about three months and I guess I missed you.” She paused and scanned the area, before slightly changing direction and carrying on.

The pebble had slipped out of place causing May to grumble. A quick bit of fidgeting around put it right back in place. She opened her mouth to respond but the words caught on her tongue and vanished immediately. After taking a moment to re-orientate herself May tried again, “Really?” was all she managed.

There was a pause as Gaige remained silent and May fought the urge to hide with her scarf. Gaige pointed out to a large rock formation about half a kilometer out, “That’s where we’re going.” The formation Looked easy to climb, no more difficult than a set of steep stairs at the worse parts. It rose about twenty five meters out of the red Vacuoan sand and had a flat top that seemed to promise a great view of the area. What really distinguished it was a Desert Willow growing out of it, lightly shading the spot from the harsh desert sun.

“How’d you find this?” May asked, following after Gaige as she started towards the destination again. The path to it was clear of any real obstacle besides the usual brush and somewhat rocky terrain.

“Hm. Luck, I suppose. I was hiking around the school and came across it.” Gaige shrugged.

“You were just ‘hiking around’ five kilometers outside the school?” May raised her eyebrow quizzically.

Gaige giggled, causing May to blush slightly. “I’ve seen you sleep in trees May, hiking around isn’t that weird.” Gaige looked back at Mat, “Hey be sure to watch your step here, there’s some small cactus around here that’ll pierce through your shoe. Not a fun time.”

May looked at the ground and saw small ball of spines about eight centimeters from her right foot. Good warning. “You have a point I guess.” The sound of their soles on the sand was the only noise for some time.

May caught herself staring at Gaige again. She blamed her wandering eye on the heat and rather uneventful hike before tearing it away. It’d be nice but that was little more than fantasy. Still, being alone with her was nice. Gaige was already in her second year when May arrived at Shade. She helped her get her bearings; showed her to orientation and congratulated her when she passed.

May altered her step to avoid a small cactus. It wa  
s good to be back in Vacuo, she thought to herself. she had missed the desert for over a month before her return. Although she did enjoy Vale before the siege there’s something about the brush, the red sand, the rocks strewn throughout, the vast expanse and the hot air.

They were upon the formation now. “C’mon I’ll show you the way up.” Gaige beamed, her smile lighting up the already bright desert. She started up the fairly clear path easily bridging the small gaps between the rising footholds with her long legs. They didn’t trouble May, but her ascent was much less graceful than Gaige’s.

After a minute of some easy climbing May was near the top when the pebble her shoe fell out of the grasp of her toes and rolled to the bottom of her shoe. It jabbed what she figured was the only sharp side of the thing into her heel causing her to gasp sharply.

One of Gaige’s ear’s flicked towards May to catch the sound, causing her to turn back towards the shorter girl. “You alright May?”

May sat down on a close boulder with a sizeable foothold underneath it and popped off her shoe. “Yeah, just had a rock in my shoe for last click.” She replied banging her shoe against the boulder several times causing the small rock to bounce out of the shoe and down to the desert floor below. 

“You walked a kilometer with a rock in your shoe?” there was a mix of amusement and disbelief in her voice. “You’re always doing shit like this May, it’s not wrong to ask for help or help yourself. You need to tell people when stuff is wrong.”

The last three weeks suddenly pressed down on May as fought the urge to break out in tears. “It’s just…” She swallowed, the dry air and the words catching in her throat, “When the Grimm attacked I helped set up the safe zone with the other teams and hunters but,” Tears started to well up in her eye, “there was still a lot of people that died. I just feel like there was more I could have done besides watch a sector with Nolan.” 

May felt a strong hand on her shoulder “May, that kinda thing happens. It’s what we’re training for. Your team and I are there for you you know.” She looked up at the taller girl, Her wavy black hair framed her face perfectly and the early afternoon sun lit up her violet eyes making them sparkle. May never truly knew whether the moment of pause the followed was imagined or not but her heart did not beat again until Gaige Pointed at the top and spoke, “Come on we’re almost there.”

May attempted to swallow the heat that had suddenly made her flushed. She attempted to dismiss the odd thoughts and occurrences that had happened so far on the hike to the rock. Fortunately, a few short moments had her at the top standing just behind Gaige.

The top of the rock itself wasn’t that notable outside of the large desert willow growing out a crag in the rock shaded most of the area. The view took May’s breath away. She could see for kilometers in all directions, the horizon unobstructed by any sign civilization. May always was fond of the Vacuoan desert, whether it was because she grew up there or because she actually found it appealing she never could tell, however with so much of it before her was slightly overwhelming.

“Hey May you gonna help me eat this food or what?” Gaige called out to her, dropping the pack she was carrying with a soft thud at the base of the tree. Gaige winced at the sound and muttered something May didn’t catch.

“What’d you bring?” May asked, now that the topic was brought up she was feeling a little peckish.

Gaige unloaded several canteens of waters, an almost comically large bag of trail mix and a four plastic bags containing smashed sandwiches. “Uhhh, some peanut butter raisin banana sandwich, roadkill style?” Gaige winced holding them up. “They should still be edible. Oh aaaand,” Gaige set the sandwich down and picked up the trail mix, “Trail mix is still good!” she beamed. “Well what’re you waitin’ for May? Grab a seat!” Gaige patted a shady patch of rock next to her.

Collecting herself May sat right where Gaige had motioned to. “This spot is really nice, thanks for showing me this.” She picked up one of the plastic bags and peeled it back far enough to that some of the squished sandwich was poking out enough to take a bite.

“I knew you’d like it, you know you’re the only person I’ve ever shown this place to.” Gaige sighed as she relaxed against the trunk of the tree. She crossed her legs at the knees and tugged the bag of trail mix towards her.

“Really?” May attempted to ask through a mouthful of mashed sandwich, she swallowed it down with a few gulps of water from one of the canteens before trying again. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Gaige tossed a handful of trail mix into her mouth, her eyes darting away from May to the horizon.

May squeezed another bite of her sandwich into her mouth. It was pretty tasty she just wished that it didn’t have it’s unfortunate texture. She looked over at Gaige, the small strands of sunlight poking through the willow branches danced around on her body illuminating parts of her face, hair and skin as it did. She was beautiful.

“Hey May, you alright?” Gaige’s faunus ears twitched as she broke the silence, “You’re staring again.”

May pulled her beanie down so that it covered both of her eyes and blushed fiercely. “Guhhh, sorry I just kinda zoned out.” She slowly uncovered her right eye and looked at Gaige, grimacing in anticipation.

Gaige was giggling under her breath, “Don’t worry about it, you know you’re cute when you’re flustered.”

“I’m… What?” May furrowed her brow in confusion.

Gaige sighed and muttered to herself, “I suppose now is as good a time as any.” She sighed again, “I, uh, like you May. A lot. As in I would like to date and such.”

“What?” May wondered for a moment if she accidental passed out or was dreaming, it just seemed so… surreal. She had had a slight crush on Gaige since she showed her around on her first day. Since then it had developed into a full blown crush from all the afternoons spent training together. She had tried to keep it under wraps like everything else. But now this was really happening.

“I guess you leaving made me realize I sorta have a crush on you, and I was planning on telling you when you got back but you were never really in a good mood.” Gaige shrugged, “So since you were kinda down over the Siege of Vale I thought maybe I’d take you out here and help you clear your head. ”

“You have a crush on me?” May said more than asked, trying to wrap her mind around the statement.

“Oh shit, are you not into girls? Did I make this weird?” Gaige’s ears went flat as she grimaced.

“N-No! I’ve had a crush since I met you!” May stammered. Suddenly, she felt lips press up against hers and a hand gently caress her jaw. May felt her heart stop beating altogether and melt into knees as Gaige leaned over to kiss her. It didn’t last long enough.

“Was that okay?” Gaige asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

“Please kiss me again.” May answered. Gaige obliged gladly.


End file.
